The Loin's Rebelloin.

Sasha had a weird dream. She dreamed of wide, open plains and birds crying their call.
"The time for change has come," A voice whispered as it echoed acorss the free land.

A paw prodded Sasha awake.
"Sasha! Wake up." It was Sasha's best friend, Honey.
"What is it?" Sasha yawned.
"It's the humans. Their bringing in a newcomer!" Honey said excitedly. Once Sasha heard what she said she raced outside to see what was going on. Sasha and Honey were both loinesses. Honey had dark brownish honey colored fur with hazel eyes. Sasha was a white loiness with dark green eyes. They lived with other loins there age and two older loins at The Calgary Zoo. Lots of people crowded around, trying to get the best angle for a picture while staff members tried to hold them back. A truck was backing up itno the drop off area. Once it was parked the back door was opened and two humans lifted in a small crate. They opened the crate and a small loin cub crawled out!
"A loin cub! The poor thing, it looks so helpless!" Sasha cried and ran toward it. She sniffed and it reeked of bad odur. Sasha licked it untill it's fur looked a little better. She noticed it had a single white paw.
"Here Sasha, I'll take care of him." The voice belonged to Sally, a elderly loiness. She grabbed the cub by the scruff and carried it to the Birthing Den. Sasha and Honey followed along with Malcom, Sally's mate.
Sally dropped the cub and sat on her side. The cub walked over to her clumsily and began to nurse.
"Poor thing. He looks bareley a month old." Sally mewed.
"He?" Honey said.
"Yes it's a he." Sasha said.
You could always tell what gender a cub was by their size. Male cubs tended to be a little larger then female cubs.
"Well, he'll make good company for the new cubs." Malcom purred.
"New cubs!?" Sasha and Honey exclaimed at the same time.
"Yes, young ones. Our new cubs are going to be born soon. So you're going to have to help with raising them" Sally said.
Then Sally turned to her mate.
"Can you leave us alone for a minute?" Sally asked.
"Sure." Malcom purred and touched his nose to her forehead before leaving.
Sasha and Honey exchanged a worried glance. Malcom and Sally were their parents, which meant they were sisters. Whenever Sally talked to them alone, it was ususaly very important.
"Listen, you know all the other males were also rescued from the wild, but I should tell you something i should have told you a long time ago." Sally said.
Sasha and Honey didn't respond.
"You also came from the wild. Iam not you're mother." Sally said. Sasha and Honey were suprised.
"But, how is that possible?" Honey wailed.
"It's true. We adopted you,you are still very important to us. It was like you were are very own." Sally said gently. Sasha and Honey were too dumbfounded to speak.
"If were from the wild, then how do you know were sisters?" Sasha asked.
"We don't know that. But there's also something else I need to tell you. You and the other loins are growing up. Soon you will both have cubs of you're own. It's the humans intentions to make sure you both have cubs." Sally meowed.
"Why? Iam not ready to have cubs." Sasha asked, still suprsied from the earleir annoucement.
"Very soon, you will be though. The humans can't keep every loin they rescue or have. They will relase some loins back into the wild." Sally explained. Then she yawned greatly.
"Iam getting tired girls. Leave me be now." Sally said sleepily. Sasha and Honey left the birthing den, struck off balance by their new knowledge.
"I wonder what it is like, having cubs." Honey wondered aloud. Sasha didn't reply. She was deep in thought of what Sally had said.
A week later the first snowfall of the year fell.
"Snow!" Honey cried gleefully and pounced on Sasha. Sasha and Honey rolled down the slope in joy. Sasha shook herself to free her pelt of snow.
It landed on Honey.
"Hey!" Honey yowled and pounced on Sasha. Sasha kicked her off and pinned her down.
"Not so powerful now, huh?" Sasha sneered playfully.
'Well, we should stop acting like cubs and check on Sally." Honey said and shook Sasha off of her. Even though Sally had lied to them, she still took them in when their real mother wouldn't, and they still respected her for that.
Sally groaned as they entered.
"Sally, what's wrong?" Sasha said worriedly. Sally didn't look so good.
"Oh, girls. Go get some help. I think the cubs are coming." Sally panted. Sasha and Honey looked at eachother in alarm.
"I'll go get Malcom. You go get some staff members." Honey said. The loinesses split up in their own derictions. Sasha saw a zookeeper out side of the gate.
"Perfect." Sasha thought. Sasha pressed her front paws against the gate and meowed loudly. The staff member didn't notice. Sasha roared at the human.
The human jumped in suprise. Sasha ran in circles and back and forth at the birthing den, meowing very loudly. Her noise attracted other humans and soon they came intothe gate. Sasha led them to the Birthing Den and thankfully, they followed. Sasha entered the Birthing Den and put her paw on Sally's belly and meowed loudly. The humans looked alarmed and started barking at eachother. Some ran off and some stayed. Two humans grabbed a long object with grass sticks at the end of it and shooed the loins out. The humans put up a spicerweb like fence up tgo block the entrance.
"Noo! Stop!" Malcom roared and charged at the fence. Sasha and Honey held him back.
"Their just trying to help!" Sasha cried.
"No! They trying to hurt my mate!" Malcom roared loudly. The other loins saw the comotion and came to help.
"Whoa, calm down, cat." Saber, one of the loins, said and led Malcom away.
"Not untill I know my mate is okay!" Malcom screeched. But the young loins were too much for Malcom. Sasha and Honey watched the young loins drag Malcom away.
"I guess all we can do is wait." Sasha meowed. Sasha and Honey waited in fear as Sally cried in angony. Every time Sally wailed, Malcom roared and struggled to get free from the young loin's grip. After what seemed like ages, the web fence was taken down and the humans left.
"That's right, you better run!" Malcom shouted, not that the humans would understand. The humans scampered out of the gate as Malcom chased them. The humans closed it before Malcom could get through. Malcom growled to warn off the humans, then he raced toward the birthing den, followed by all the other loins. There was four cubs, one was sandy coulored, the second tan cloured, the third blonde, and the last one was light brown.
"You have three sons and one daughter." Sally yawned. Sasha could tell which was which. The blonde one was the girl, all the others were boys.
"What are their names?" Fang, Saber's best friend, asked.
"Well, the sandy one's name is Golden. The tan one is Mud. The blonde one is Silky. And the light brown one is Bark." Sally said.
"Those are nice names." Saber said shyly.
"Well, leave us in peace now. Sally's tired." Malcom said.

Meanwhile,,

"We need a new plan for the loin exibit." The Manager said. A emergeny meeting had been called at The Calgary Zoo soon after Sally gave birth.
"Why?" Zookeeper Charles asked.
"Because with four new loin cubs and an orphan cub, their is no more room for anymore loins. And you should not have asked that, Charles, it was you're job to make sure we knew the animals were pregant or not!" The Manager snapped. Charles hung his head gultliy.
"I have an idea." Zookeeper Zoey said. Everybody turned to look at her.
"Why don't we relase them into the wild? Maybe more people will come here if people think were trying to make an effort for the envoiurment." Zoey annouced.
"That's a good idea." The manager agreed.
"But who should it be?" Zookeeper Brian wondered aloud.
"Sally and Malcom would be too old. The cubs wouldn't stand a chance. We should release Sasha,Honey,Saber and Fang. They are young and ready to have cubs of their own. They'll have a good chance of survivng." Charles noted. Everybody nodded in agreement.
"It's decided then. In three weeks we will relase Saber,Fang,Honey and Sasha into the wild." The Manager said and smacked the mallet to dismiss the meeting.


Honey ans Sasha watched Mud,Golden,Silky,Bark and Scamp, (the orphan loin cub Sally adopted before the other loin cubs were born), play in the hay.
Winter had conquered the warm weather now, so the loins were moved to a pen inside. It was peaceful too. At this time of year the Zoo was closed in winter so nobody would be walking around, oohing and ahhing at the animals.
Honey stood up and shook the hay from her pelt.

"I wonder if my cubs will be like that." Honey said and stared dreamily at Fang, who was sharing a meal with Saber.
Sasha didn't reply. Ever since Sallys new cubs were born, Honey had started to chase Fang around, and talked constantly of what it might be like to have cubs.
Sasha worried if Honey was going crazy. Then a wirring noise drawed Sasha's attention to the gate. It was opening and a team of humans came in. Carrying guns. They chased Sally and the cubs into a corner and shot Malcom. Sasha's jaw dropped and stared in shock at Malcoms limp body and a feathery thing stuck out of his hindquarters.. Why did the humans do that? They never did something like that. Honey snarled at the humans and pinned one of them down. Before Honey could have a chance they shot Honey.
"HONEY!!" Sasha cried in horror as Honey went limp. Sasha immideately lost all respect for the humans. They wouldn't get away with this! Sasha attacked the human who shot Honey. She clawed furiously, but a strange surface prevented her from doing any harm. then there was another bang. Sasha reialzed in fear that they shot her. All of the sudden her legs wouldn't support her and a black wave of sleep conquered her continsness. Sasha went unconiuss.


The sound of crashing waves woke Sasha. She tried to stand, but the ground didin't support her. She looked around to find black stuff around her. A net! She was in a net! Sasha remembered when she was a little cub. The humans had knocked out two bears and put them in black web stuff attached to a huge,flying machine to realse them to the wild She understood little of human langauge, but she knew that the black web stuff were called nets. She looked around to see the sleeping forms of Saber,Fang and Honey.
Of course! They weren't trying to kill them, they were planning to relase them to the wild. And they shot Malcom too because they knew he would attack and not give up untill they were dead.
At realizing this, Sasha felt scared. They were going into the wild. They would never see her adopted family members again. Malcom talked about it, even though he lived in the zoo his entire life.
But one time he escaped and reached the tall,grassy plains beyond the human place. They recaught him and he was back in the zoo. He had asked his father about it,who actually was from the wild. His father had said that was the loins true habitat, but where they acctually lived was far away, across the endless lake. Where it never snowed and the plains went on forever.
How would they survive there? They wern't taught anything back in the Zoo. Loud yawning made her turn around. The other loins were waking up.
"What happened?" Fang yawned.
"Well, the humans are trying to take us to the wild." Sasha expalined.
"Really? How?" Honey wondered. So Sasha expalined to them the clues.
But Saber disagreed.
"Thats impossible! We've been asleep for hours! If they were they would take us across The Endless Lake," Saber said and turned away. Everybody followed his gaze and their jaws dropped. Huge waves crashed into eachother as the water sung its loud but peaceful song. The strech fo water never seemed to end.
"We ARE going across the endless sea." Fang breathed. The young loins lost track of time of how long they stared at the water. Then a huge spalsh startled the loins. Honey bumped into Sasha who lost her balance and fell into Saber. Then the loins collapsed into a heap. They untangled themselves to see what had disturbed the water. A huge fish,blue on one side and white on another, was chasing a seal.
(The loins knew what a seal was because they saw seals in the zoo.)
The fish had a enourmus amount of teeth. They looked really sharp. The fish jumped high into the air and twirled around to catch a seal.
"Wow." Sasha gasped. there were no words to describe the fish or The Endless Lake.

Hours passed and thunderstorm clouds blocked out the setting sun. The dark water was lighted orange. Sasha stared nervously at the black water with what seemed like orange stripes. She couldn't shake the feeling that this was a bad omen. Thunder roared in the distance as lighting spilt the sky. Rain leaked from the lightings wound in the cloud and pounded the loins and the surface of the water. Now the water really looked meanicing. The loins huddeled as the lighting and thunder continued their rage. All of the sudden another lighting bolt hit the flying machine and shook the machine voliently. Sasha looked up in alarm to see the flying machine of fire! The machine dropped toward the water, the wind flipping the net, tangling the loins and flipping them about.
"Whats happening!" Honey wailed in terror. Before anybody could answer there was a loud splash as the flying machine sunk into the water, extungusihing the fire. The cold water dragged the machine down and the net. Honey clawed her way out of the net and the loins scrambled out of the net. Before Sasha could follow something held her back. The net! She was tangled in the net! Sasha thought in fear. Sasha struggled to escape as she sunk lower and lower, but she only got more tangled. Sasha felt as if her mucles were deflating and her lungs felt like they were going to burst. All of the sudden the tangle of net on her paw snapped and Sasha was dragged by someone up to the surface. All of the sudden the surface broke as Sasha's head broke through as she gasped for air. She saw Fang with his teeth in her scruff.
"Thank you Fang, you saved my life." Sasha whispered, trying to get water out of her lungs.
"No problem." Fang gasped, and Sasha knew that he almost drowned too, trying to save her. Then all of the sudden she remembered the humans in the machine, flying it,,
"Wait! The humans are still down there! We have to go save them!" Sasha said, paniced. Before she could dive down there Honey stopped her.
"Its too late,Sasha. You know that." Honey said quietly.
"No! They could still be alive!" Sasha screeched.
"Sasha, we all saw how deep it was, which could be thousands of feet deep, for all we know. The machine would have sunk too deep for them to have a chance. Even if they were still alive, they would be too weak to open the doors. And we cant open them ourselves. They're gone." Honey said solmenly.
Sasha opened her mouth to argue, but closed it again. Sasha knew she was right. Theyre time would be up by now. They were gone.
Thunder roared, reminding the loins of their current problem.
"Where do we go? Who knows wich ways left or right?!" Fang yelled over the waves and thunder. Sasha looked at the wave deriction.
"We were heading against the waves. We go that way!" Sasha shouted,pointing west. So the loins swam westward, struggling aganist the waves. Saber dissapared under the waves. Sasha dragged him to the surface.
"Thanks." Saber gasped. But the storm became rougher, and so did the waves. One huge wave washed over all four loins. Sasha paddled hard, but the wave washed her backward,leaving Sasha powerless. Sasha gasped for air when the wave relased her. Sasha looked around wildly. Honey was right beside her. But Saber and Fang were drited far away.
"Saber! Fang! Come back! Sasha called.
"The--waves--too-strong!" Saber managed to scream as another wave sezied him and Fang. Sasha and Honey tried to swim after them, but another wave conqured them. Sasha and Honey swam on as the storm calmed. It started to get easier to swim,but the loins got weaker. Sasha struggled to stay above the surface and her breaths came in short and unstable. All the sudden a large fish leaped out of the water. Sasha paniced. What if it was one of the big fish she saw earleir,hunting the seal? It would gulp her and Honey in one bite. they wouldn't stand a chance in their state. then another one leaped out, and she realized it was smaller, and designed for graceful swimming. Some of them swam closer, and Sasha got a good look at it. It had a long snout, and its mouth was curved in a smile. its eyes were small and black. it had a dorsal fin on its back and a blowhole. It had a tail with two fins sticking out. It was pale blue and had two fins, like paws. The smiling creature sniffed her curiosly, and made a loud,chattering noise. It seemed to offer it's back for riding. Sasha didn't seem to understand, but she was so tired,she just fell onto its back, wrapping her paws aroundits neck. others of the creatures kind came to supprot her. She looked around to see that the creatures were helping Honey too. Honey nodded tirdley to Sasha. Then Sasha fell asleep as the smiling creatures started to swim westward. When Sasha woke up, she was in shallow water. She looked up to see and sandy beach. She looked around the find the smiling creatures.
"Thank you. Sasha purred and licked one of the smiling creatures, who seemed to be leader. The creatures chattered farewell and swam back out to The Endless Lake.
"Where are we?" Honey yawned.
Sasha looked around. There was a lot of jagged rocks on the beach and debris flowing in from The Endless Lake. Beyond that was a feild of long grass and crooked shaped trees.
The land seemed to go on forever.
"I think were in the wild." Sasha breathed.
"Then lets take a closer look." Honey said and waded out of the water. It was very warm and soon their soaking pelts were dry but a little damp. Soon they spotted a dead animal.
"What is it?" Honey asked.
"It looks like a zebra." Sasha said. Sasha and her friends had also seen zebras back at the zoo. Sasha's stomach growled. She realized how hungry she was. Honey crouched by the zebra and took a bite.
"This is really good." Honey said through chewing zebra meat. Sasha crouched beside her and also took a bite. It tasted of fresh meat and contained the scents of the wild."I can't belive we never thought of the zebras as food before?" Sasha mumbled through chewing. Honey nodded in agreement. So the loins ate to their hearts content untill a threating hiss startled them. they whipped around to find a loiness!
"How dare you trespass on our territory and steal our food!" The loiness hissed.
"No.no! You go-t-t it al-l wro-n-ng! We were just, well, w-we cam-me from-" Sasha stammered. The loiness didn't listen.
She attacked and Honey and Sasha leaped out of the way. Sasha and Honey raced away, The loiness close at their heels. Honey and Sasha werved around a boulder while the loiness simply jumped over it. She tried to pounce on Honey, but she dodged. The two frightened loiness's were just about to get away when a roaring voice called.
"STOP!" The voice roared. Their purser stopped, but Honey and Sasha kept going.
"I said STOP!" The voice said again, and a huge loin blocked their path. He was the biggest loin Sasha and Honey ever seen, even bigger then Malcom. he was no older then Sasha or Honey. His fur was black tinged and his mane was black. His eyes were orange and his fangs and claws looked big enough to cut a butter knife in half. His paws were as big as dinner plates and his tail lashed back and forth.
"So who are you to trespass onto our territory?" The loin grolwed.
"We,we, just came in from the beach" Honey whimpered.
"Were not from here, and now we lent up here." Sasha explained boldly. She didn't explain all what happened, she knew these loins wouldnt't know what she would be talking about.
"Your probaly from a diffrent Pride!" The loiness, who walked up to join their "conversation" said.
But the loin sniffed both of them.
"No. they don't have any scent I know of. What are your names?" The loin growled.
"Iam Sasha,and this is Honey." Sasha said, tryiing not to show any fear.
"You don't have talent names?" the loiness asked, confused.
"Talent names?" Sasha and Honey echoed.
"You don't know what talent names are? You really are from far away aren't you?" The loin said. Sasha and Honey nodded.
"Iam Crow BlackHeart, and this is Amy RainEcho." Crow said.
"Enough talk, Crow. Just chase them away." Amy growled.
"No, I think they would fit in well in our pride." Crow said thoughtfully. Sasha paniced. She didn't want to live in a strangers pride, when she just got here. She didn't know anything about this place!
Crow didn't seem to notice Sasha's fear.
"Come Amy, well escort these two back to the hollow." Crow said. Sasha and Honey shared a look of alarm. For once Amy looked sympathectic.
"Don't worry. the pride is freindly." She reasurred them. Sasha stared at Crow. His fur shone in the sunlight and his muscles rippled under his pelt. He sure was attractive. Sasha thought. She looked at Honey to see that she was staring at him too. Amy noticed too.
"Crow may be handsome, but hes not what he seems." Amy catiouned. Sasha was confused. What did she mean by that? After a while they came to a grove of trees with a lot of round dicthes. Sasha's stifled a mew in suprise. She never seen so many loins in one place! Three young male loins were sharing a meal under the shade of a tree. Nearby two loinesses were napping on a boulder. Two male loins and a loiness came back from patrolling. When Sasha,Honey,Crow and Amy came, everybody turned to look at the newcomers. Crow placed a huge paw on one of the napping loiness.
"Wuh?" The loiness mewed.
"Amber, we have newcomers, show them around." Crow huffed.
"More like new prisnors." Sasha thought glumly. Amber jumped off the boulder.
"Iam Amber SwiftFur, and you are?" Amber said.
"Iam Honey, this is Sasha, and we don't have, whatever extra names." Honey said. Amber looked at them curiously, then sniffed them.
"Hmm, you don't smell normal. And I never saw a white loin before." Amber said.
"Its not my fault iam white." Sasha snapped. Amber shrugged, unbothered by Sasha's hostilty.
"Here, i'll show you around."Amber said. Amber led them to a fallen tree, where it rested on a boulder. A curtain of lichen grew on the top of the fallen tree and acted like the trees hairpeice.
"Under here is where all the loins sleep."Amber expalined and held the lichen curtain open for them. It was suprisignly roomy inside. Layers and layers of moss grew over eachother, like a over-thick carpet. A patch of sunlight shone and Sasha could see the dust particles dance in the ray.
"You can poke around there later,theres still lots to see." Amber said and led them to back out to the sheltered clearing. She sat by a broken half boulder, there was a small but roomy cave under the rock, with lots of soft flowers and a small, clear pool of fresh water.
"This is where Crow sleeps. Its the best place to sleep with the soft flowers." Amber expalined.
"Why does Crow get such specail treatment?" Sasha wondered. Amber looked suprised.
"You didn't even guess? hes leader of the pride." Amber said.
"He is?" Honey said, impressed.
"Well, duh! Here in the wild, the pride is ruled by one or two male loins. Only the biggest and the strongest can mantain their authority and keep their place as leader. Other loins might try to take over, and thats what Crow did. As big and strong as he is,Iam not suprised how easily he became leader." Amber explained, her whiskers twitching with amusement. Sasha was more confused than ever.
"You mean other loins can just walk in and take over?" Sasha exclaimed.
"And why do males have to rule!?" Honey asked.
"Thats just the way it is, here in the wild. You two have a lot to learn." Amber said. At that point Crow roared, summoning the loins together.
"Time for the hunt." Amber said and joined the gathering loins. The sunlight made Crow's fur shine and revaled his long and deep-looking scars. But the scars only seemed to make him look more handsome. One dark red scar sild down his face, inbetween his snout and the corner of his eye.
"He got that when he took over the pride. Almost took out his eye." Amber whispered.
"Is it natural for loins like Crow to have so many scars?" Sasha said as the two loiness stared at the handsome loin making his annoucement.
"Of course. Each scar teels a tale and the scars show that they went through tough battles and survived. The more scars on a loin, the more attraced a loiness is ussaly to him." Amber said. Sasha nodded in understanding. She would never admit it, but Crow was very handsome.
Crow raised his voice and now Sasha listened.
"We have two newcomers here, Sasha and Honey." Crow said. Every loin turned to look. Sasha tried not to quiver under all their curoius stares.
"In three weeks it will be the talent festival, where all the prides,packs, and clans of leopards,cheetahs, tigers and loins will meet to discover their true talent and earn their talent name." Crow said. Sasha gussed that the pride already knew this, but he was secretley telling them so Amber didn't have to explain everything.
"But I want the newcomers to go on the hunt three days from now and test their skills, and I will show them the territory in the day after that." Crow said and dismissed the pride with a flick of his tail. Sasha felt a stone in her stomach. She never hunted before! How was she supposed to do this?
"Come on you two, its time to go to sleep." Amber said sympathicley. Sasha followed her, a little encouraged. She only known Amber for about twenty minutes, but she already knew she was patient and kind. Amber could be a good freind here.

Sasha,Honey and Amber trotted through the long grass, following the older loiness's to the herd of zebra and wildebeast. Honey and Sasha were pounding with questions, and Amber leaked with answers.
"Why do only the loiness's hunt?" Honey mewed.
"Beacuse the manes the roar loins have give them away easily." Amber said. Sasha learned earleir that a male loin was called a roar loin, and female loins purr loins.
Before they could ask any more questions Amber stopped and signaled for them to stop too. Sasha couldn't belive her eyes. A sea of zebra and wildebeast streched across the grass. They beasts fought bellowed, chewed on grass and ran across the plain. the herd never seemed to end. The peacefulness was broke when one of the older loiness chased after a zebra. the hoofed animals scattered, their fear scent choking Sasha's nostrils. The loiness targeted a zebra all by itself and she came closer and closer, untill a crouching loiness pounced on the zebra from her hiding place. Startled, the zebra fell to the ground. the other two loiness were on it in a instant, biting hard into its throat untill its kicking and struggling weakened, untill it was dead.
"That is the stragety. But be careful to avoid its hooves. So, me and Honey will chase after a wildebeast and seprate it from the group and weaken it as best we can. Sasha, you hide in the bushes over there and when we run by you tackle it as hard as you can. the wildebeast will be startled and fall over and thats when we go in for the kill." Amber said. Sasha nodded and ran off to her hiding place.

Sasha panted and licked the mud from her fur. The hunt was a disaster. She had leaned to much on her left paw and missed the wildebeat compeltley. She tried to scratch its side but it bucked and she fell backward in a puddle of mud. She had gotten stuck and Trevor, one of the young roar loins, had to help her out.
"Your so pathetic! What loin would miss like that!" Bailey, one of the loiness's laughed.
"Leave her alone,Bailey!" Trevor said.
"Don't listen to her, she can be really rude sometimes." Trevor whispered. Sasha was too miserble to respond. Back at camp she went to see the older loins.
"Was it hard to learn about hunting?" Sasha asked Amy. Amy turned out to be freindly and often guided her with her problems.
"Its harder when you weren't raised in the wild, without proper example to learn from. Keep practicing, you'll learn." Amy said.
"Okay. Thanks." Sasha purred, encouraged by Amys words. She trotted toward the pond and cleaned her fur. After her bath she went into the sleeping hollow, found a cozy nest and went to sleep.

A strong,cold breeze woke Sasha the next morning. Sasha remebered Crows planned tour and poked Honey in the side with her muzzle.
"Go away." Honey grumbled.
"No.Crow is going to show us the territory today." Sasha reminded her. At her words, Honey got up quickly and licked her fur clean.
"Do you think my fur looks good?" Honey asked.
"We don't know what we'll see. Your pelt will probaly be pretty dirty by the time we get back." Sasha pointed out. Honey shrugged and trotted out of the sleeping hollow.
Trevor was already outside.
"You're up early!" Trevor said cheerfully.
"Yeah. Crow is giving us a tour." Honey purred. Trevors expression darkened.
"Be careful." he muttered. then went back to grooming. Sasha was confused. Why did it seem that everybody was warning them about Crow?
Sasha and Honey talked with Trevor and Amber about recent events untill Crow arrived. A massive yawn inturppted the casual conversation. Crow had woken and streched.
"Well Honey, Sasha? Are you ready for the tour?" Crow said as he scratched his ear.
"Yes." Honey purred and rubbed against Crow. Sasha sighed. It was going to be a long day. Crow led the way through the long grass, setting a fast pace. Sasha saw a tall, dead tree as they neared a clearing.
Crow stopped and sat by the dead tree.
"This,, is the history tree." Crow meowed.
"History tree?" Sasha echoed.
"Yes. When our pride, the Lighting Strike Pride, was just forming when this tree was hit by lighting. Every leader leaves a claw mark on the tree to leave their leagacy, so every genartion will remeber them." Crow explained as he gestured the loiness's to come closer. He lay a paw on a old marking.
"This is the very first leaders marking. His name was Malvin ProudRoar." Crow explained.
His paw shifted gentley over the markings, untill he came to a recent claw scar. "This is my own marking. I clawed it the first day I took over." He said as he unsheathed his claws and scraped the marking, renewing it. Sasha stared in amazemet at his claws. they were the size of a wasp!
"The mark looks very new. When did you take over?" Honey mewed.
"About a month ago." Crow answered before he trotted away. Sasha followed, her mind whirling with new knowledge. The next landmark was a river with a island in the middle.
"This is the creek. It has no particular name. In the dry season it ussaly dries up. We shelter on the island when our camp is, overrun by bad weather." Crow said. Sasha wondered why the creek wasn't frozen. Back at the zoo, the river was conquered by ice at this time of year.
"Why is it not frozen?" Sasha asked.
"Whats frozen?" Crow said. Honey was also confused.
"Well, dosen't it snow here at this time of year?" She wondered.
"I don't know what snow, or frozen is. Nobody here does. Its warm here all year round." Crow said, eqqually as confused. Sasha couldn't belive it. these loins never knew snow their entire lives! Crow led them across stones leading to the island. Honey almost slipped. Crow stopped her fronma embarrsing fall with his massive paw.
"Careful." He purred. Honey glowered back at him as they walked side by side to the island. Sasha followed, annoyed. Honey would start acting even more werid if Crow showed affection for her! Sasha joined them on the island. Crow started to show them around the island. the day dragged on as they explored more of the territory. Crow secretley dropped hints of love for Honey and she giggled uncontrobally at the hints, leaving Sasha more angry then ever. then they came to the edge of the terriotry with high cliffs and a wide river.
"This is High Cliffs. There are many ledges to climb. You can see for miles at the top, but its very dangerous. The river is rapid with high waves, breaking down the cliffs. It is very hazourdous, it can colapsse under the weight of just one loin. Even if you make it to the top, the wind can blow you down to the river in one gust. You'll be in shock from the fall and you wouldn't stand much of a chance." Crow warned serouisly. Sasha stared in amazement at the river. It roared as the bubbling white water crashed against the cliffs.
"Well, thats the territory. We should be getting back." Crow said, staring at the sinking sun.

It was dark by the time they got back. Amy,Amber and another loiness had caught a huge zebra and everybody was in on the feast. Crow roared and pushed the loins away.
"I was out all day and I get to eat first. Along with Honey, but no one else!" he growled. the loins muttered as Honey and Crow ate side by side.
"What a jerk." Trevor muttered.
"He seemed nice on the tour." Sasha said.
"Well he isn't. He'll be the death of us all." Bailey snarled darkly.


The next day Sasha woke up starving. Crow had left very leiitle of the zebra left, sending most of the loins to bed hungry. She solwly out of the den to find the loiness eating a wildebeast.
"Hi Sasha! We hunted early afyter Crow hogged that zebra. Want some?" Amber purred.
"Yes please!" She mewed eagerly. The day grew on as the loins carried on their tasks. Tonight was the Talent Gathering, So there was a lot to do fot the loins to get ready. Sasha went on constant hunting parties and got better each time. The day went by quickly and it seemed like no time passed when sunset came.
"I guess we should get going." Crow said.
"Now? But its not dark yet." Sasha meowed.
"Yes, but the talent testing grounds are very far." Amy replied. She was right. by the time Sasha could hear cats chatttering nearby, they left their own terriotry behind and it was dark outside. The plains had gotten flatter and more and more unfalimar trees twisted toward the sky.
"Won't the other loins attack us for crossing on their territory?" Honey wondered.
"No. Not on this night. theres a truce so each pride can get to the grounds safely. Even though the loins can be hostile. But don't worry, they won't hurt a buetiful loiness like you." Crow relpied. Honey blushed and purred at Crow. For once Sasha was too excited to worry about Honeys odd behaveoiur. then they came to a hollow. Sasha couldn't belive her eyes.A huge water hole spalshed in the middle of the hollow. A vast jungle lay to the west and small water holes with steam risning out of them, surronded by large jagged rocks. A smooth but stumpy fallen tree lay on a rock where Sasha gussed the leaders adressed the other cats. To the east streched a far and windy plain sutaible for running and hunting. Sasha saw large groups of loins,tigers leopards and cheetahs. Crow led them into the hollow and sat on the fallne tree with the other leaders. Sasha counted the leaders an concluded that their was three clans for eah specices of cats, sot here was about twleve clans in total. honey patted Sasha on the shoulder.
"Sasha, look!" Honey said excitdly. Sasah didn't see anything, then she saw where Honey was poitning. It was Saber and Fang!
"Saber! Fang!" Sasha cried and the excited loinesses rushed toward them. Saber and Fang had grown almost as large as Crow and had fluffly manes.they stared in shock at the two loiness.
"Sasha! Honey! Its so good to see you!" Fang cried. The four loins rubbed together and purred wildly.
"So how are you?" Sasha said.
"Wel, we became part of a pride. The SwiftStrike Pride. Its pretty nice there." Saber replied.
"We became part of the LightingStrike Pride." Honey said casullay. Sasah noticed that Honey no longer stared dreamily at Fang like she used to. No affection, no love, just normal. Then Crow roared to signal the meeting.
One of the other loins spoke first. His fur was mangy with mud and had many recent scars, but his muscles were firm and his eyes proud.
"Thats our leader. Wind Noblecloud." Saber whispered.
His eyes seemed angry when he spoke.

" Today we gather, like all the clans have ever since the begging. I hope this night peaceful." He stared at Crow and growled before he continued.
"All the young cats earn their name here. All loins will begin at the hunting station." Sasha tuned out as the loins moved to the plain. Wind's words confused Sasha. Did he accuse Crow of something?

Soon the cats were rushing about. Sasha had low spirts. She had falied almost all the tests. She was at the fighting staion now. Soon it was her turn.
Crow stepped forward.
"You'll be fighting me, Sasha." He growled. Sasha's heart dropped into her paws. Crow was huge! How could she fight him? Crow lunged and pinned her down. Sasha slipped from his grasp and clung onto his back. Crow flung her off and leaped once more. Sasha tried to dodge but Crow caught her on the side and bit gently onto her shoulder. Sasha pushed up with all her stregth and Crow went flying across the battle traning felid. This time Sasha lunged but Crow barrel-rolled out of the way. Before Sasha could leap o her feet Crow tackled her and rthey rolled around ina ball of fur, clawing and btin, but careful not to cause bleeding. Then Crow clawed her face and sent her whirling. Sasahs face stung, but didn't bleed. Crow pinned her down with a massive paw. Too tired to knock him off, Sasha panted and struggled weakly.
"Time! Crow wins!" The refree, a cheetah, barked. Crow let her up and Sasha got up, her heart sinking lowly.
"Your talents fighting, isn't it?" Sasha breathed.
"Yup. talent names refelct the cats actual talent." Crow chuckled.
That explains his name 'Blackheart.' Sasha thought.
Sasha sulked under the fallen tree. Trevor walked up to her without her noticing.
"What are you doing here?" Trevour said.
"I failed all the tests. i have no talent." Sasha mewed miserbly.
"Nonsense! theres still the singing test." Trevour said.
"Singing test?" Sasha said.
"Its when the cat sings whatever is in their heart. If they can sing their song with tune, they pass. Come on." trevour said. sasha followed without agruing.
Trevour led her to the slope at the top of the hollow. Singing cats were preforming there, some singing buetifully and the others sounding like dying dogs. Sasha sat on one of the boulders with Trevour sitiing beside her. The cats turned to Sasha."Now, relax, close your eyes, and listen,," Trevour whispered. Sasha closed her eyes and listned to the breeze. Before she knew it she sang:

No fences break the current of the wind,,
these plains strech on and onnnn,
No walls confine me in small spaceeeess

Because Iam free,, to roar to my hearts content,,

The crowd cheered and Trevor listned in amazement. Sasha didn't hear them as she sang on:

The wind whistles through the grass as i gaze at the endless sea of stars, nothing could
ruin a moment like this,, no I don't have wings to enjoy flight, but Iamm frrrreeeeeeeeeeee,,,

As Sasha finsihed her song she saw the crowd cheering loudly.
"You passed." Trevour purred. Amy jumped up to join Sasha.
"I would be honured to give you your talent name. Sasha, you have proven of worthy talent and will alwyas be remebered for that. From now on your full name will be Sasha Windsong." Amy purred. Trevor licked her ear porudly and Sasha eyes shone with pride. She finnaly found her talent!
"So whats your talent?" Sasha asked as the meeting started.
"Iam good at swimming. My names acctulay Trevor RippleWave." Trevor replied. This time Crow spoke first.
"Now it is time to dicuss the news. there is two necomers to our pride. Sasha and Honey. Sasha blushed as all the cats looked at them for a second.
"Now,Wind, what do you say about my offer?" Crow grolwed.
"No. It is not right for all of us to b one. I will fight to the death before I join your pride." he growled. Sasha and Honey exchanged glances in alarm.
"This is what we have been warning you about. Crow has made an allinace with the tigers and plans to take eover all of the clans under his evil rule. Just two days before you came here he attacked Wind Nobleclouds pride." Trevor said.
Sasha couldn' belive what she was hearing.
"Remember. my alliance with the tigers makes you weaker! You can't avoid it forever!" Crow snarled. the tigers grolwed lowly.
" We never let him take over so easy." One tiger snapped. Sasha knew that he must have meant that Crow must have taken over the tigers against their will.
"Crow, you are very foolish. My pride is as strong as yours. Now leave us alone! Consider this gathering over!" Wind hissed and led his loins away from the hollow.Crow pounced on Wind and bit feroiusly.
"LightingStrike Pride and tigers, attack!" Crow roared. They cats immideatly flung into battle. Sasha stood there, miserble and confused. SHe didn;t want to fight, not if Crow was trying to take over the clans!
"Sasha! fight now!" Crow ran over to her and roared.
"But it isn't right! You shouldn't do this!" Sasha spat.
"NOW!" Crow bellowed before charging back into battle. A leopard pounced on her, but Sasha kicked it off easily. Sasha and the leopard fought, with the leopard tiring rapidly. Sasha pinned him down and saw how injured he was. He had a long scar that was bleeding endless and a twsited paw. She let the leopard up.
"Go, but don't tell anyone I let you go so easy!" Sasha said lciking his scar clean. Confused, the frightened leopard ran into the jungle. Soon the battle was over. Crow towred over a leopard and a cheetah leader while the other clans fled.
"I surrender!" the Leopard and cheetah wailed.
"Good. Now you surrender one of your warriors to me, and give half your kills to my pride. or I'll find you." Crow snapped meancingly. With pain in their eyes, the leaders ordered one of their warriors each to Crow. Sashas heart ached. She couldn't belive what was happening.